Shares.io announced the next stage of its journey to deliver “investing made social”.  Shares.io is launching the Shares app in the United Kingdom in the autumn, anticipating delivery across Europe in early 2022. Shares is a consumer mobile app and a platform for retail investors.

The Shares Co-Founders and the CEO Benjamin Chemla, a serial entrepreneur with a track record that includes co-founding Stuart in 2015, have assembled 34 experienced scaleup veterans to-date. They are ready to launch Europe’s first fully integrated social and investing app in less than a year. In addition to accelerated product development, Shares will quickly go-to-market in a highly regulated industry. They will comply with requirements that include KYC, AML and MAR. The startup will use its recent fundraise to continue to scale at pace on a mission to empower users with tools that open doors to first-time investors and increase financial inclusion.

Shares is creating a new investing app category where anyone, including new investors can start conversations, network and learn from friends and experts as a community – together in a one-stop shop with all their portfolio management needs. The Shares app will democratise investing with a serious finance platform that inspires confidence for any user to build their own successful portfolio.

Shares combines the functionality of a consumer investment app with the wisdom of online forums, where members can buy stocks, react to the market in real-time, start conversations with friends and access curated expert advice in one place. It enables community and private Chat to network, learn, track friends and grow individual portfolios from the app.

Benjamin Chemla describes the product as an “entirely new category of fintech investing platform that resonates with today’s investors. We founded Shares, ‘investing made social’ for investors who prioritise user experience and community first, and also expect a serious platform to build their portfolio.” He added:

“Building Shares wouldn’t have been possible without the seasoned team of scaleup experts we’ve assembled across the business to achieve this product, in record time, without sacrificing quality. There is still untapped market opportunity in this high-growth fintech space and Shares is uniquely positioned as Europe’s first social and investing app to fast become a leader in the industry.”

Shares’ seed round raised $10 Million USD, pre-product from Singular, Valar Ventures, André Mohamed, Co-Founder of Freetrade and others who share the view of the market opportunity for a unified platform that combines investing, social and expert advice into one app. James Fitzgerald, Founding Partner at Valar Ventures and VC supporter of Shares said:

“Valar invested in the team at Shares with confidence in their ability to overcome the technical challenges and execute the project in a matter of months to get to market. Congratulations to Shares for executing the launch of Europe’s first social-focused investing app – a feat of engineering, finance and regulatory know-how.”

Shares has become international, representing 10 nationalities based across three offices in Paris, London and Krakow so far. Shares’ VC & Angel investors include Singular, Valar Ventures, Global Founders Capital and Red Sea Ventures to date. Their business advisors are currently André Mohamed, Co-Founder of Freetrade, Didier Vallet, ex Deputy CEO of Société Générale, Chris Adelbach, Managing Partner of Outrun Ventures & UKBAA Angel Investor of the Year, and Ryan McKillen, Founding Team of Uber.